Conference Board Employment Trends Index Declines Slightly

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index declined slightly in July to 100.6, down 0.3 percentage points from June’s 100.9. However, from a year ago, the July index is up 4%.

“The Employment Trends Index declined in three of the past four months, and is signaling employment growth of less than 100,000 per month through the end of 2011,” said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board.

“Despite weak employment growth in recent months, GDP has been growing even slower in the first half of 2011. There is simply not enough growth in production to warrant stronger hiring,” Levanon said.

The Conference Board noted that the decrease in the index was driven by three of the eight components that make up the index. The three weakening factors were consumer confidence, number of people who say jobs are hard to get and job openings.